DEPARTMENT OF REVIEWS AND ABSTRACTS Edited by Thomas J. Zwemer, D.D.S., M.S.D. Augusta, Ga. All inquiries regarding information on reviews and abstracts should be directed to the respective authors. Articles or books ]or review in this department should be addressed to Dr. Thomas J. Zwemer, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, Georgia 30902.
Orthodontics and Periodontics E. Ho$1, B. U. Zachrisaon, and A. Baldauf (editors) Chicago, 1985, Quintessence Publishing Company. 185 pages, illustrated, index
This book is one of the outcomes of the Fifth International Conference for Orthodontics held in Munich, Germany in October, 1982. The book consists of the edited lectures of eight international authorities; the dust cover reads like a who's who in orthodontics and periodontics. Without question this must have been a landmark conference and the editors are to be commended for preserving its essence in such an excellent readable and visual form. The topics are arranged from basic issues to clinical consequences. The clinical reader might prefer to read oriental style from back to front. The book contains more than 100 color illustrations of clinical situations, many of which are before and after views of specific clinical problems. Thus, the book captures the style and flair of an atlas. Its limitation is the narrow range of each case report. Of course, it was the intent of the lecturer to provide visual impact on a specific point or procedure. However, little in the way of comprehensive treatment planning is presented, although an entire chapter is devoted to the need for a broad data base and for comprehensive interactive treatment planning and its proper execution. The editors have preserved each contributor's style and vocabulary. To the new reader in either discipline, this might be confusing. To a word merchant, it was intriguing and contributed much to the reading pleasure. The chapter on nutrition should be a must for any budding graduate student. It answers the question of how to take a complex problem, create a simple study to test an explicit hypothesis that represents a small subset of the complex problem, and then extract precise conclusions that may easily, although not necessarily properly, be extrapolated to the universe. The chapters by Vanarsdall and Zachrisson confirm their premiere places on the international scene. They make the book. This reader found difficulty only in Vanarsdall's listing of adult case types. One wishes he 522
had said more about that; he probably did, but you know editors! Quintessence Publishing Company knows its craft. The book production details are excellent and the book has a broad market within both the academic and clinical communities. Tom Zwemer
Ortt' Jack L. Hockel Chicago, 1983, Quintessence Publishing Company. 469 pages, illustrated, index
This book is a labor of love. The author feels strongly about his profession, his mentors, his family, his associates, and his patients. It is obvious that he approaches his task with a zeal born of the conviction that orthopedic gnathology represents the zenith of dental science and art. Thus, the book conveys a cultic flavor, that is, a method for cure based on beliefs of a promulgator. The author does not claim to be that promulgator; he attributes those qualities to Charles Smart, Bert Wiebrecht, and Harvey Stallard. The author sees his work as carrying forward the great advances of these giants of occlusion. This book is the result of that spiritual mission. Consequently, it is a potpourri of scientific snippets, holistic philosophy, clinical experience, case reports, and a litany of the sins of the unenlightened. The basic premise is that the patient is more important than the occlusion, but since the occlusion affects the whole person, proper occlusion becomes dominant to wellness. Furthermore, the author is convinced that until Harvey Stallard c~iscovered Charles Stuart and Charles Stuart discovered Wiebrecht and Wiebrecht discovered Crozat, the truth about occlusion was hidden from mortal eyes. Shorn of its cultism, the book outlines three clinical tasks--the movement of teeth, myofunctional therapy, and nutritional support--as essential to building a proper occlusion for wellness. The Crozat appliance and several modifications are presented as best suited